City of Houston FD acquires pumper truck

The City of Houston Fire Department once again has more than one operational fire truck.

The department last week obtained a 2008 Pierce Saber from the Sherrill Fire Department in Sherrill, Iowa, for $175,000. The move means Houston City FD will now have an operational pumper truck to use along with its big ladder truck. A 1998 model Freightliner pumper has been out of commission for about three months, as Chief Joey Moore, captain Robbie Smith and others involved await a specialized computer-oriented part necessary to move forward with potential repairs.

“We’re getting a much newer truck,” Moore said, “and it has almost everything on it that we’d like it to have. We got a really good deal.”

The Saber has only about 13,000 miles on it, and its price was significantly less than the $250,000 the Houston City Council had recently approved for purchasing a truck. It was listed on a popular firefighting equipment sales website – www.firetruckmall.com – operated by Brindle Mountain Fire Apparatus (in Union Grove, Ala.).

Smith and two other representatives of the Houston Fire Department (Jon Cook and Bobby Bell) traveled to Iowa to check out and test-drive the Saber.

“It was very well maintained,” Smith said. “That was one thing we were really watching for.”

The truck has seating for six firefighters, and breathing apparatus is stored in the climate-controlled cab instead of an outside compartment.

“That’s good because that important gear doesn’t go through the expansion and contraction caused by extreme heat or cold,” Smith said. “Plus, we can fit six guys in there easily, whereas we have to kind of cram three in the front of the Freightliner.”

The Saber has a Cummins motor, a tank with a 1,000-gallon capacity and a Husky foam system. Its pumps are controlled from a centrally located station, rather than on one of the vehicle’s sides.

“That’s good because whoever is operating the pumps can see the fire no matter which side of the truck it’s on,” Smith said.

The truck also features a 6-inch water inlet mounted on the front bumper.

“That means we can attach to a hydrant at the front of the truck,” Smith said. “That’s something we’ve never had here, and I think it could be very beneficial, especially if we’re working on a downtown business or something like that.”

While Smith and his cohorts were in Iowa, they got to see the Saber in action, as the Sherrill department was called to a structure fire moments after the Houston contingent test-drove it.

“As soon as we had backed it up into the station, they got the call,” Smith said. “I’m glad we got to see it in full operation. That was very helpful.”

Moore said getting the money allocated for a truck purchase was crucial, because good ones don’t last long once they hit the market.

“Once the good ones are posted, they go so quick,” he said. “The money had to be there so when we saw one, we could jump on it.”

“The council worked well with us on that,” Smith said.

A few modifications will be made to the Saber before it’s ready to roll for Houston, but that shouldn’t take long, Smith said. Meanwhile, the Freightliner is back inside the fire station in Houston instead of sitting outside at a repair shop in Cabool.

“We brought it home mainly because of winter weather coming on,” Smith said.

Smith said he wants people to understand the addition of the Saber is a permanent improvement for the department, but is more or less a temporary “fix” in the absence of the Freightliner.

“We fully intend to get that truck back up and running at some point,” he said. “It’s all about serving the people of Houston and the surrounding communities to the best of our abilities.”